Harry made his way through the foggy grounds to breakfast at seven and ate while looking over his Occlumency text book. He thought Snape would help him with Magery that morning and then Occlumency later, but he wanted to be prepared either way. At seven thirty he finished and made his way to the training field. Snape wasn't there since Harry was almost half an hour early, so he sat on the damp grass and closed his eyes, trying to meditate. He knew he was supposed to take his shoes off so he could feel the earth beneath him, but it was cold out and he was enjoying his new socks and warm hiking boots, which he'd found under his bed last night before going to dinner.

"Potter."

Harry looked up to find Snape standing there over him in the fog. He hadn't startled, not quite, but he looked down at his watch. It was strange to him how this happened sometimes, that he'd sit down and close his eyes to meditate, only to find out his time had elapsed without his knowing it. He stood up, back side damp from sitting in the grass, and looked at Snape expectantly.

"We're going to start with silent magic today."

Harry stared at him. That was supposed to be very hard. He knew some of the older students knew how to do it from the other schools, but as far as he'd read in the magery book, it wasn't something they'd be learning there.

"Problem Potter?"

Harry shook his head. He really wanted to say that it would be too hard and that the man wanted him to fail, and maybe he did, but he was there early in the morning just to tutor him, so Harry thought he'd give him the benefit of the doubt just this one time.

"Pocket your wand." Harry did as he was told and watched as Snape withdrew a small mossy stone from his pocket.

"You are to levitate this from the ground without your wand, and without words."

Harry stared at him as he dropped the rock and there was a muted thump as it landed in the grass. Snape didn't take his eyes off of Harry.

With an internal sigh Harry stared down at the rock, which he could hardly see thanks to the thick fog that seemed intent to clinging to him, and concentrated on the wingardium leviosa charm. He didn't expect it to work but was still disappointed when he didn't. Determined not to give Snape the satisfaction of besting him, he didn't look up and kept trying. He tried for an hour until 9 am when Snape told Harry he had to get to class and bent and picked up the rock. He didn't say anything as he walked away and Harry felt a little miffed that the man hadn't even given him any instruction on what he'd done wrong. Looking at his watch and then back up as he saw students coming to the field for whatever class they had, Harry realized he had an hour of free time and wondered what he'd do with it. Normally he would be on his way to Magery with August but since he'd just done that with Snape, there was no need to subject himself to whatever torture August had planned. Harry wandered for twenty minutes through the fog before he bumped into Axle coming out of his cabin.

"Harry. Do you have free time?"

"Yeah, it's too foggy out to do anything though."

"Want to come in and study?"

Harry nodded and went into Axle's cabin which felt overly warm now that he'd been outside in the fog for too long. They didn't get any studying done and ended up talking about Quidditch instead. They made plans to meet at Axle's cabin at the same time tomorrow and Harry left at nearly ten to hurry to Defense with Snape.

They were practicing dueling in teams again today, but Snape had changed the rules since it was foggy to some sort of twisted version of capture the flag. Today it was capture your partner. One person would be looking to seek and capture and their partner would be looking to evade capture and disable their pursuer. Harry, Draco, and a few of their classmates were told to wait on the foggy field for five minutes as their partners went off to hide. Harry thought immediately of going to the wood as that's where he and Hermione had been practicing, but thought it too likely a place to hide and decided instead to look on the little steep hill behind the infirmary. There weren't many trees on it, but there was a lot of tall grass in the meadow on top a person could hide in. Harry hadn't been up there yet, but he thought he remembered Hermione saying something about studying up there with her other friends one day. It was a good place to start his search.

He stealthily made his way across the grounds, picking up rocks as he went and putting them in the pockets of his new red zip up hoodie. The fog was thick as he made his way to the base of the hill. At the bottom he avoided where he thought the path started and instead climbed up through the grass. When he was near the top, ears perked for any sign of his friend, he took a rock out of his pocket and threw it hard. He heard it land somewhere in the distance and listened to see if he could hear a rustle of grass. There was a noise but he wasn't certain what it was. He took another rock and threw it even harder. This time he did hear a rustle and hurried as quietly as he could the rest of the way up the hill. He peered through the white fog and tried to keep his heavy, noisy breathing at bay. In the distance he heard a shout from somewhere down in the main compound and assumed someone had captured their prey, but his was still lose somewhere.

Harry had one rock left in his pocket and instead of throwing it he decided to try something new. He couldn't cast any kind of wind or light charm from his wand because it would give away his position, but maybe he could attach a wind charm to the rock and then levitate it across the meadow. It might be enough to clear the fog for a moment if he could. Trying to remember any kind of attachment charm, Harry decided on trying some transfiguration. His first three whispered attempts failed, but finally he did attach a little whirlwind charm to the rock and levitated it out in front of him. The fog cleared for three feet in every direction of the rock and he sent it off, squinting as the fog came back in again and the rock disappeared. He swung his wand around and the rock came back and to the left. He caught a flash of purple movement and sent the rock back towards it. Aha, he thought. He sent a stunning charm towards the movement in the grass but immediately a hex came right back at him and he ducked into the tall grass, lying flat on his belly. He'd given away his position. He searched for another rock and found a pebble and spent the next few moments trying to attach a freezing spell to it. He avoided touching it as the rock turned blue and ice began to form around it and then sent it to the place where the wind rock was now laying on the ground, presumably right next to his pray. It hovered in the air but he needed to know exactly where to drop it. He felt around and found a stick and threw it. It hit someone who moved just enough to give away their location, and Harry dropped the freezing rock, causing a high scream.

He leaped from his position in the grass and hurried over to find Hermione shaking her hand and blowing on it, trying to get the ice crystals off.

"Got you," Harry said.

"Not yet you haven't," she said, looking up at him with a frown.

"I can stun you if you want, or you can walk back."

She stood up with a huff and started off through the fog, Harry right on her heals so he didn't lose her. They hadn't covered anything like escaping while captured, but if it was in the book he was sure Hermione would have already read ahead to it. They were all the way back down the hill and across the compound to the practice field when Hermione decided to take advantage of a convenient distraction. Lyn was there on the field struggling to get Jacques back into some rope she had conjured to bind him and had caught Harry's attention, when he suddenly found himself face first in the grass, stunned. The spell was lifted and he heard Snape say, "Well done Miss Granger."

"What? No! I had her here on the field already!" Harry jumped up angrily and saw Hermione's smile.

"You did not deliver her to me," Snape corrected. He waved his hand and called for the others to come over. It appeared that Harry and Hermione had been the last to return.

"You have all just learned two valuable lessons. First, it would be better to completely incapacitate any subject you are bringing back and levitate them, instead of trying to walk them back. Two, even when you think you are in the clear, you may not be. A captured person will take any advantage they can to escape."

Harry wondered bitterly for a moment if this was what Voldemort taught his death eaters, but cast the thought aside as Snape started to tell them to reverse rolls with their partners. They still had thirty minutes left in class. Harry hurried off, wondering where he could hide with a good advantage as Hermione and the other pursuers disappeared from sight in the fog. Anywhere out of the way would be too obvious, especially the forest or where he'd just found Hermione. Snape hadn't put buildings off limits today, so he considered something a little sneakier than he normally would. He knew Gan wouldn't practice Root in the fog like this because it was too cold and distracting, so he headed off for the building Gan sometimes used in bad weather and opened the door. He peeked in, and hoped Gan wouldn't be angry with him for interrupting. There were four students sitting inside on the floor with their shoes off and eyes closed. It looked like meditation but he couldn't be sure. Gan was also there but he never opened his eyes to see who the intruder was, so Harry came in and sat down. He didn't take his shoes off in case Hermione found him, though he didn't think she'd dare interrupt a class like he had.

He kept an eye on his watch, not wanting to lose time accidentally again by meditating, and instead sat quietly and pondered on ‘losing time', as if it were an actual thing one could lose. He felt very much like Luna then. Finally his watch read one til' the hour and he stood up and exited the building, Gan never having looked at him. He waited just outside until he knew for certain that class was over, and then returned to the field. Snape and Hermione were still there though it looked like the others had gone.

"Where were you hiding?" Hermione asked.

"If I tell you, I won't be able to hide there next time," Harry said, feeling a little smug after she had turned things around on him earlier.

"Hmpf," she walked off, bag over her shoulder, probably not wanting to be late to her next class or study group.

"Where were you hiding?" Snape asked. He didn't seem angry.

"You'll tell her."

"I will not."

Harry nodded. Ok then. "In a classroom."

"With students?"

"Yes."

"Hm."

Harry started to move off to go to Healing, but Snape asked, "When are you free today for Occlumency?"

"I have a free hour at three."

"That is after my last Occlumency class for the day. We will practice then."

"Ok." Harry hurried so he wouldn't be late. The fog was finally starting to clear and he could finally see more students walking across the grounds.

In Healing Harry considered Snape's words to him the other night about asking for tutoring in his other courses, and wanted to ask Gan if he would give him extra help in Root, but suddenly felt bad for using his class as an escape from capture and didn't ask. He also didn't ask in Root after lunch, and felt silly about his cowardice through Occlumency where Snape lectured about different techniques for hiding your thoughts from intruders. Finally it was three o'clock and Occlumency class was over. The other students filed out of the building, and Harry stayed in his seat. He'd been so caught up in trying to think of how to ask Gan for extra help that he'd forgotten to be anxious about Occlumency, which up until this point had never gone well for him

"Were you listening at all during my lecture?"

Harry looked up from where he'd been staring at his desk. "Yes."

"What are three ways to keep your thoughts hidden then?"

"Empty your mind only thinking of one thing or image, re-direct your thoughts to something you are ok with your attacker seeing, or force the person from your mind." There were more but Harry had tuned out part of the lecture and he didn't want to be asked to list the things he couldn't remember.

"Bring your chair up to my desk." Harry did as he was told and sat facing Snape across the teacher's desk. "I will be entering your mind. You will attempt to block your thoughts from me in any of the ways we have learned about in the book or in class."

"Yes sir."

"It is not necessary to throw me from your mind today. If one thing does not work, try another. One Occlumens rarely is able to master more than one or two ways of keeping his or her thoughts to themself, so for now you will focus on trying to find at least one way that works for you."

Harry thought that if he had had this information to start with, he might have done better in Occlumency previously and Sirius might still be alive, but he tried to push those bitter thoughts away. He didn't want Snape seeing them. Those were his thoughts meant only for him and his own brooding.

Harry closed his eyes and waited, and though Snape never spoke the words of the spell, he suddenly felt him in his mind, and thoughts and memories began flashing through. Snape was not choosing to pause on any particular flash of memory at the moment, which was different from Harry's previous lessons with him, and so Harry felt he could concentrate on trying to do as he had been told. By the end of the hour however, he'd made little progress.

"We will try again tomorrow," Severus said. "I have another class to teach."

"Ok," Harry said. He felt a little irritated but not like he would have been coming out of one of Snape's classes a week ago.

Harry went to drawing, forgetting that Blazhe was probably still very angry with him, but was snapped back to reality when Blazhe laughed at his attempt at drawing a person proportionately a few minutes into the lesson. He didn't put any of the other students down and Harry tried to ignore it, but Blazhe soon came back for another attack. "You're not even trying now are you Potter? I know this course isn't for credit, but I would have thought you would try to attempt to do as you're told."

Harry knew Draco and the other three students were watching him but he decided to try not rising to the bate. Blazhe would take any chance to get him kicked out.

Harry thought he had done fairly well not leaping out of his seat and screaming at Blazhe, but it left him feeling angry and he had a lot to think about during meditation. Typically meditation was only half an hour, but when Kushi tapped him on the shoulder and told him class was over at 5:30, Harry nodded and then closed his eyes again. He wasn't done yet. He needed to think some more. Meditating helped him be a little less angry. If only he could figure out how to do it without closing his eyes so he could be less bothered during the day. Soon another distraction came however and Harry looked up.

"It is dinner time," Gan said.

Looking up at his teacher Harry realized they were the only two there now. "Oh, ok." Harry didn't get up, but didn't close his eyes again either. He was surprised when Gan sat down across from him, crossing his legs a moment later. Harry looked at him.

"You came into my early Root class today."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Just because I meditate, does not mean I am unaware of my surroundings."

Harry thought it was strange that his Root class had been meditating. They never did that in the Root class Harry went to.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Professor Snape told us to hide and avoid capture."

"And you decided to hide in my class."

"I knew Hermione wouldn't look in a classroom full of people."

"Why?"

"She considers school sacred ground. She'd never interrupt a lecture."

"And you?"

He bit his lip. "I wasn't trying to cause any trouble. I just wanted to not fail."

"Is this what you meditate about?"

Harry frowned. Maybe he did sometimes. It was hard not to think about failing when everyone around you wanted you to fail.

"Maybe."

Gan closed his eyes then and appeared to be meditating. Harry guessed that meant that their conversation was over. He was about to get up but then he asked, "Why do I lose time when I meditate sometimes?"

"You are deep in thought," Gan said without opening his eyes. "Sometimes this is good, other times, it is not."

"Because I'm not aware of my surroundings?"

"Yes. For you in this place especially, it would not be wise to meditate alone out in the open if you intend on losing yourself in thought."

"Can you teach me how to stay aware?"

Gan opened his eyes.

"You like meditation." It was not a question, so Harry didn't answer. Gan stared at him for a long moment and then said, "I come here every other year. There are not many students who choose to take up the art of meditation, despite constant recommendations from their teachers. You are the only one this year, aside from my own Karh students."

"Will- will you teach me then?"

"Meditation is not something that can be taught. Guided yes, explored, discovered, enjoyed, but not taught. I will guide your meditations if you wish."

"Yes," Harry said, "I mean, please."

"Come back tomorrow. Or you may stop and join me any time you see me meditating."

Harry stood up. "Thank you."

At dinner Harry sat with Hermione, Axle and Ernie and wondered at how much change one day could bring. Yesterday he was in bed recovering from a long distance swim in icy crashing waves wondering if he was going to be expelled, and today he had had a pretty decent day, gotten two extra tutoring sessions and been told he could get extra tutoring from Gan as well. He could only hope that tomorrow he would be so lucky.